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Petitioning Canada to sign and ratify the optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

A petition has been created asking Canada to sign and ratify the 'optional protocol' to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

From the petition page:

With great fanfare, the Harper government signed and ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2010, but it never took the crucial step of signing and ratifying its Protocol -- the tool for reporting violations by endorsing nations.

The Optional Protocol (OP-CRPD) to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) allows for individual complaints to be submitted to the CRPD Committee by individuals and groups of individuals, or by a third party on behalf of individuals and groups of individuals, alleging that their rights have been violated under the CRPD. Complaints may only be communicated against a State party that has ratified or acceded to the OP and only upon the exhaustion of all available and effective domestic remedies. If the CRPD Committee makes a finding that the State has failed in its obligations under the CRPD, it will issue a decision requiring that the violation be remedied and for the State party to provide follow up information.

If Canada ratified the protocol, and concerns or complaints could not be resolved within existing Canadian institutions, then the issue could be communicated to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for consideration. That is not currently possible. In short, so long as Canada chooses not to adopt and ratify the Optional Protocol, there is no watchdog outside of Canada and no external accountability that will police Canada into complying with the CRPD.